Instagram is no longer accessible in Russia
The Kremlin accused Meta of allowing calls for violence against Russians and gave 48 hours to Instagram users in Russia to move all of their content to other platforms.
The Kremlin accused Meta of allowing calls for violence against Russians and gave 48 hours to Instagram users in Russia to move all of their content to other platforms.
"On March 11, Meta Platforms Inc. made an unprecedented decision by allowing the posting of information containing calls for violence against Russian citizens on its social networks Facebook and Instagram," Russian communication watchdog Roskomnadzor said on Friday.
It claimed that the Russian Prosecutor General's Office demanded restricting access to Instagram.
Roskomnadzor gave 48 hours for active Instagram users in Russia to 'transfer their photo and video materials to other social networks and notify their contacts and subscribers.'
As of Sunday midnight, Instagram is no longer accessible in Russia.
The block will affect 80 million users. However, Instagram, as well as Facebook, can be accessed using VPN services.
As more IT, streaming, and communications companies announce their leave, Russians turn to VPNs to avoid total isolation. We have gathered a list of the best VPNs for Russia in 2022, including NordVPN, Surfshark, and PrivateVPN.
According to an internal company post seen by Reuters, Meta is further narrowing its content moderation policy for Ukraine to restrict calls for the death of a head of state. Last week, Meta temporarily allowed some posts on Facebook and Instagram calling for the death of Vladimir Putin or Alexander Lukashenko. As a result, Russia opened a criminal case against Meta.